Are you facing difficulty because there is something that your original hospital insurance plan does not cover? Then it is time you know more about the medicare supplement insurance, Medigap, which helps in covering health care costs not covered in original medicare such as copayments, coinsurance and deductibles. These are usually sold as policies from private insurance companies. For getting a medigap policy, one should already have a medicare part A or part B plan. When a person has medicare advantage plan and wants to get a medigap policy, they should leave the medicare advantage before the medigap policy commences. A monthly premium has to be paid to the private insurance company towards the medigap policy in addition to the monthly part B premium one has to pay for medicare benefits.
Medigap is for every individual and separate policies should be purchased for spouses. Medigap policies can be purchased for licensed insurance companies. The medigap policies are valid as long as the person pays premium and there are options for renewal of the policy if there is serious health problem. According to the revision on 2006, medigap policies cannot be used to cover prescripton drugs. It is also not possible to buy a medigap policy when the person already has a Medicare Medical Savings Account (MSA) Plan.
Medicare advantage plans including HMO, PPO, private fee for service plan, medicare prescription drug plans, Medicaid, TRICARE, employer or union plans, veteran’s benefits, long-term care insurance policies, Tribal, and Urban Indian Health plans are all entirely different and not to be confused with the medicare supplement insurance plan – Medigap. With medigap, there is no out of pocket cost besides the premium. Medigap can be used for any health care provider or doctor that comes under Medicare. Medigap requires little to no paperwork and it automatically transfers money to health care providers as the medicare pays the share
